It’s a topic worthy of debate on the 19th hole.
So order a beverage or two and dive into the storied career in major championships of one Tiger Woods. Tee up the question and have at it: rank in order of significance the victories Tiger Woods has collected in the majors?
What would top your list?
His transformative, earth-shattering, record-smashing win in the 1997 Masters, when he became the first player of color to win a green jacket?
His tour de force at Pebble Beach in the 2000 U.S. Open, a performance Phil Mickelson said was the greatest golf ever played?
His masterful waltz on the ancient ground of St. Andrews to win the 2000 Open Championship at the Home of Golf to become the youngest at age 24 to complete the career Grand Slam?
His down-to-the-wire victory in the 2001 Masters to become the first to win four consecutive professional majors, aka, the Tiger Slam?
His playoff win in the 2008 U.S. Open on a broken leg and trashed knee ligaments?
His win in the 2019 Masters following spinal fusion surgery?
That’s just six of his 15 major championships, and one wouldn’t be shunned from the 19th hole argument adding another to the list.
In fact, Woods himself would like to add one – the 2007 PGA Championship at sweltering Southern Hills Country Club in the Sooner State city of Tulsa.
In winning his fourth Wanamaker Trophy by two shots for his 13th victory in a major – at the time his winning clip in the game’s four most sacred championships was 27 percent – Woods achieved a personal milestone.
Coming a year after he won his first major at the 2006 Open Championship without his father by his side (Earl Woods had passed in May of that year), Woods won his first major as a father, as his daughter, Sam, was born in June of 2007.
The tiny Sam was with her mother and Woods’ former wife, Elin, in the scoring tent when daddy polished off his victory at Southern Hills.
“It’s a feeling I’ve never had before, having Sam there and having Elin there. It feels a lot more special when you have your family there,” Woods said afterward. “And it used to be my mom and dad. And now Elin and now we have our own daughter. It’s evolved.
“This one feels so much more special than the other majors. The British Open last year was different, but this one was certainly so special and so right to have Elin and Sam there.”
Survival of the fittest
Woods and his battered 46-year-old body have made a remarkable return to the game following a horrifying, high-speed, single-car crash north of Los Angeles in February 2021 that nearly cost him his life and almost led to amputation of his severely injured right leg, ankle and foot.
The winner of a record-tying 82 PGA Tour titles played the 2022 Masters in April, his first start in an official event in more than 500 days. After a stunning 71 in the first round that placed him on the first page of the leaderboard, Woods and his stamina gave way to the mountainous nature of Augusta National Golf Club as he wound up in a tie for 47th.
Following his final round, Woods said he would play in the 150th anniversary of the Open Championship in July at St. Andrews, where he has won the Claret Jug on two occasions. As for an appearance at Southern Hills on the 15th anniversary of his last win in the PGA Championship, Woods said he would try his hardest to make it to Tulsa.
The first time he played Southern Hills as a pro came in the 1996 Tour Championship; he finished in a tie for 21st, 20 shots behind winner Tom Lehman.
The second time came in 2001 when the U.S. Open descended on Tulsa. Woods was the overwhelming favorite, having won the previous four major championships. But an opening 74 knocked him eight shots out of the lead and he eventually tied for 12th, seven shots back.
The third time proved charming. He was the undisputed world No. 1 when he headed to Tulsa in 2007. He had four victories under his golf belt that year, including an 8-stroke romp the previous week at Firestone Country Club in the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, and had finished runner-up in two of the first three majors.
Woods would be making his 50th start in a major championship, counting his amateur appearances. And Sam, his infant daughter, was in the world.
Woods had another slice of mojo to call on– August in Oklahoma is not for the timid. Upon arrival, the participants knew it was going to be a long, hot week at the 89th playing of the PGA Championship, and the forecast did not wane as temperatures hovered above triple digits the entire week.
It would be a survival of the fittest – and no golfer was in better physical condition than Woods, who was 31 at the time.
So, all was good – until the first round started. In an uncharacteristic, sloppy round, Woods made five bogeys and four birdies and signed for a 1-over-par 71. While that placed him six shots out of the lead set by Graeme Storm, and four shots behind John Daly, who spent most of his week at a nearby Cherokee casino, Woods knew there were 54 holes to play. In other words, time was on his side. And as it turned out, Woods tightened up his game and only made five more bogeys the rest of the tournament.
One of those came in the second round, but it didn’t much matter. Woods bounced back with a sizzling 63, which tied the course record set by Raymond Floyd in the 1982 PGA Championship. The 63 tied the lowest single-round score – at the time – in major championship history. He would have put his signature to a record-setting 62 if not for a cruel lip out on the 18th green on his 15-footer for birdie.
“It got me back in the tournament,” Woods said of the second round. “It wasn’t like I was out of the tournament, but I just felt that winning score this year was going to probably be around 4-, 5-under par and to go ahead and get it in one lump sum felt pretty good.”
The round took him from a 5-shot deficit to a 2-shot lead through 36 holes.
Arron Oberholser, who would finish fourth that year, said Woods just plodded along with “such horrifying precision.”
“The rest of us are made to fire at flag sticks in cases where normally we wouldn’t and therefore we make mistakes,” Oberholser said. “He’s the greatest in the world for a reason. He definitely is the greatest I’ve ever seen play without a doubt.”
Woods tacked on a 69 in the third round to increase his advantage to three shots.
“I accomplished my goal today,” Woods said. “My goal was to shoot under par and increase my lead. And I was able to do that today. So positive day all around.
“Only made one bogey today, which was good. And really kept myself out of trouble most of the day. Just try to keep hitting fairways and put the ball in the center of the greens and lag putt well. Try not to leave myself a second putt. The greens aren’t very smooth out there.”
Woods would be paired with Stephen Ames in the final round.
“It’s tough to play with Tiger, no doubt about it,” Ames said. “He’s relentless, constantly making great shots, making great putts.”
So how to do you beat him?
“I don’t know,” Ames added.
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‘I’ve exceeded my own expectations and I’m certainly not against that’
Woods took to the first tee that is perched high above the fairway and offers a nice view of Tulsa’s skyline in the distance for the final round knowing he had never relinquished at least a share of the 54-hole lead in any of his previous major wins.
He wouldn’t on this day, either. Woods kept up his “horrifying precision” to stay ahead of the pack heading into the inward nine.
Then things got interesting. Woody Austin, seeking his first major, and multiple major champion Ernie Els turned up the dial on the pressure. Woods, who led by five shots through eight holes, bogeyed the 14th and suddenly saw his lead fall to one shot over Austin, who had birdied the 11th, 12th and 13th, and Els, who had birdied the 13th and 14th.
But Mother Nature’s hot hand and the pressure cooker of a Sunday final round did not get to Woods, who bounced back from his bogey with a birdie on 15.
“I got off to a good start. And I was 2 under there through eight holes. Felt like I was in control of the tournament,” Woods said. “I knew that Woody was playing well, and Ernie was making a run. But 14 was a little mishap there. Three-putted that one and I felt like I gave all the momentum back to Ernie and to Woody.
“And just felt like, ‘you know what, I got myself in this mess, I need to go get myself out of it.’ And I just did serious yelling at myself going up to the 15th tee, just to get back into what I do. And I made that putt on there on 15, it felt great. Felt like I had the momentum again, and I was back in control of the tournament. And if I parred in I felt I would win the tournament. It turned out to be the case.”
Woods closed with three pars and put his signature to a 69 to finish at 8 under, two shots clear of Austin and three clear of Els.
“I think it’s great that Ernie and I didn’t let him just coast in,” Austin said. “I beat him today, but it doesn’t matter because he had four shots on me. He happens to be the best player in the world, but if you put any great player, any good player with a four-shot cushion, their odds are going to be pretty good. Especially when they happen to be the best.”
It was the second time Woods successfully defended a PGA Championship title – he did so previously when he won at Medinah Country Club in 1999 and Valhalla Golf Club in 2000. He won again at Medinah in 2006 to set up his defense at Southern Hills.
With his 13th major title, Woods tied the career total of Bobby Jones and took one more step toward catching Jack Nicklaus and his record-setting haul of 18.
“If you would ask me that 12 years into my career would I have had this many wins and this many majors, there’s no way,” Woods said. “I’ve exceeded my own expectations and I’m certainly not against that.”
Chasing Jack
The following year, Woods took another major step toward Nicklaus when he won the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego in a playoff against Rocco Mediate to reach major No. 14.
Two days later he had surgery to repair his left leg and knee and he missed the final two majors of the 2008 season.
In 2009, he won seven times worldwide, but did not add to his major haul. He tied for sixth in the first two majors and missed the cut in the Open Championship. But he seemed back to his best form when he took a 4-stroke lead through 36 holes and a 2-stroke lead through 54 holes in the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine National in Minnesota.
But Y.E. Yang shattered Woods’ cloak of armor by becoming the first to overcome a deficit in the final round to topple the man who was 14-for-14 in a major heading into the last 18 with at least a share of the lead.
Woods wouldn’t win another major for nearly 10 years.
Personal scandal and an assortment of injuries, the majority to his ailing back, kept Woods off the course and from advancing toward Nicklaus. Woods didn’t disappear – he won 10 times from the end of 2009 through 2018, becoming No. 1 in the world again in 2013. But with his deteriorating back and thinking his career was over, Woods had a Hail Mary operation in 2017 – spinal fusion surgery.
He built his body and swing back and became a major again. He won The Tour Championship in 2018 and also made his presence known in majors with a tie for sixth in the Open Championship in 2018 and a runner-up finish to Brooks Koepka in the 2018 PGA Championship.
That set up his stunning victory in the 2019 Masters to get to major No. 15. He won his record-tying 82nd PGA Tour title six months later in the Zozo Championship in Japan.
Nagging injuries and COVID-19 threw Woods off-kilter in 2020 and then the car crash in 2021 sent him to recovery once again. For three months he was bed-ridden. Then he slowly started to build back his body, and then his golf game, and returned at the Masters. There is hope again for his future in the game.
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